The Manchurian Candidate

The transition of Hollywood movies from their birth to date has been tremendous, not only from black and white to color, from physical film stock to digital format, from the silent era to the use of 3D surround sound systems but even the portrayal of emotions has been altered to satisfy the demands of the present generation. The curiosity of film makers has now been diverted to fulfill the demands of the current audience rather than to express their own imagination. The best technique to ‘measure’ the impact of social variables on movies would be to compare a classic version of a movie to its modern remake. In my essay I will contrast the 60’s version of the movie the Manchurian Candidate to its’04 version. The alterations of the latter version of the movie The Manchurian Candidate provides us the differences between the views of the two eras; it clearly defines how the circumstances of the time of production are portrayed in the movie, and how the social factors such as racism, communism and the political situation are reflected into the movie. The plot of the Manchurian Candidate revolves around the distressed political situation and the search of power in the political world, the latter version of the film keeps the major plot and characters, nonetheless the tones and themes are updated to reflect modern America. The basic outline kept by both versions of the film is the return of a group of American Soldiers from a war and the desperate search of Ben Marco for truth as he questions his dreams and eventually his sanity. The film perfectly reveals the power of human to control minds and bend them to darker wills, it exposes how man can be turned into a mere puppet and be controlled at command. A film such as the Manchurian Candidate, which starts of as a war drama and then turns into an exhibition of naked political ambitions would be difficult to digest without the use of comic relief. Resort to comic relief is much more noticeable in the earlier version of...

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...The ManchurianCandidate
The ManchurianCandidate is a Cold War thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay by George Axelrod based on Richard Condon’s 1959 novel of the same name. The ManchurianCandidate was released in October of 1962. The film stars Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, and Janet Leigh. It features Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, and James Gregory. The film begins in Korea in 1952 where Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) and his platoon are betrayed by their Korean translator, captured by enemy forces, and taken to Manchuria. After the war, the soldiers return to the United States where Sergeant Shaw is credited with saving the lives of his platoon and awarded the Medal of Honor at the recommendation of the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra). When asked to describe Shaw’s actions and demeanor the whole platoon responds automatically, “Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.” This contradicts what they really think about Shaw.
Marco has been suffering from a recurring nightmare in which the platoon is at a ladies garden club meeting and a hypnotized Shaw strangles and shoots two soldiers in the platoon. Marco’s perception of the ladies at the meeting switches between communist military brass and ladies fanning themselves in the heat. Marco’s dream is excused as PTSD by...

...The ManchurianCandidate was originally a novel written by Richard Condon, and then made into film in 1962. It is a story about an American soldier, Sgt. Raymond Shaw, fighting in the Korean War when his troop is ambushed by the Chinese as a result of an oriental translator convincing them to cross in a single line. Raymond Shaw and his troop are air lifted to a POW camp where they are the centre of a brainwashing program funded by Soviet and Chinese brass. Sgt. Shaw receives hypnotic suggestions to murder two of his troop members, the other men are not able to react as they are in a similar trance. They are all returned to the States with absolutely no recollection of what had took place, further more, the troop members "remember" Sgt. Shaw as a hero who had ultimately saved them while fighting in Korea. Sgt. Shaw receives a medal for his "bravery", soon realizing that his mother has organized this three ring circus as good publicity for his step father - Senator John Iselin. Many of the troop members begin to get terrible nightmares that reveal images of what really transpired while being held captive. Major Bennett Marco's dreams are in fact so vivid that he becomes suspicious of Sgt. Shaw and decides to inform his military unit of his fears. The case is investigated and Major Marco is asked to do some less strenuous work, public relations, but is unable to perform and receives an indefinite sick leave. In his New York apartment, Raymond...

...Film review
The ManchurianCandidate
Synopsis
The ManchurianCandidate, directed by Jonathan Demme, is a political thriller made in 2004 as a remake of the film from 1962. Denzel Washington plays Captain Bennett Marco, Liev Schreiber acts as Sergeant Raymond Prentiss Shawa candidate for vice president and Meryl Streep as his mother Eleanor Shaw, a US senator.
In Kuwait during the Gulf War in 1991 an incident happened to the convoy of Captain Marco. Raymond Shaw supposedly rescued all but two members in his unit. This made Shaw a war hero and he gained the Medal of Honor, which made it possible for him to start a career in the politics.
Years later, Marco is plagued by nightmares at night. The doctors diagnose the Gulf War syndrome, but Marco does not believe there is a psychological cause because his dreams seem so real to him. He doubts his memories of the incident in Kuwait. He remembers it, but he does not feel to have done it. Al Melvin, his mate in the Gulf war, is also plagued by similar nightmares. Marco wants to find out what actually happened in 1991.
The only one who gives him faith, is the German scientist Delp. He tells him that there is a company that produce implants that can manipulate you.
With his help, Marco finds out that his convoy was brainwashed. Eleanor Shaw, the mother of Shaw, has business connections with Manchurian Global, a company which has produced...

...The ManchurianCandidate, adapted from Richard Condon’s novel of the same title, was released in 1962, and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Brief Plot Summary
The central concept of the film is that the son of a prominent, right-wing political family has been brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy
Thesis Statement
The ManchurianCandidate was noted for its breakthrough in cinematography, as the scenes were shot in a creative manner that was new and different in that era. It also made use of different editing techniques to seamlessly piece the story together, along with the use of certain recurring Motifs to effectively deliver the story to the audience. This paper would examine how the groundbreaking use of cinematography, editing help to bring across the theme of surrealism, and delivers a thrilling effect while the motifs help bridge the Theme of The ManchurianCandidate with the use of visual elements.
Cinematography
The ManchurianCandidate made use of several different brilliant cinematography aspects to bring forward the theme of surrealism and thrill to the audience. According to the Dictionary, the term “surrealism” refers to “an avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, characterized by the evocative juxtaposition of incongruous...

...Kenisha D. Earls
Politics in the Movies
July 13, 2010
In the movie “The Candidate” I thought that the film was very interesting to me, being a person that has never been interested in politics. I found it interesting even though I am not for sure if this is the way that campaigns are run now. I thought it was nice to see how some candidates may be chosen, especially in this film because he was not expected to win the election. He was not even interested in politics although his father was once governor. The film showed how the campaign was ran and managed by his advisors. Although not expected to win the election, he somehow surprisingly, pulls it off and when he does, he is left wondering “ What do we do now?”
Bill McKay was a young, handsome, ambitious, married, son of a former governor. Although he grew up having a father as governor, he was not at all interested in politics. He is approached to run for California Senator because of those reasons. He has no prior experience but his father’s name. McKay is approached to run for office because there are no well known Democrats candidates willing to run. He agrees to run only after finding out that he could not win and that he was free to say anything he wanted....

...English
“The Candidate”
I think that the movie tries to say to society, the way in which a person lives a political campaign, as well as the handling and the appareances that a person has to have in the political world, can bring many changes to the life of the candidate.
In this case the candidate is Bill McKay, many things change in terms of public aspect with public media, public opinion, the citizens and also in the private aspect as it is with his family, specifically with his wife and his father.
In the case of the relationship with his wife it is obivious that the distance deteriorates their relationship because of the work in his campaign. The movie reveals that in campaigns there is often a sexual compromise for the candidates over sex and power. For example, there are several scenes where a woman involved in the campaign of Bill McKay is very enticing, to the extent that he cheats on his wife with her. Another one of the fundamental aspects that accounts for this type of behavior is the stress that is experienced by those involved with the campaign. which occurs not only with politicians in the U.S., but also within the world.
This film is clearly a reflection of what involves a political campaign and can perfectly be exemplified today. Many of the resources used in the 70’s to attract voters still exist today and do not vary much from those used nowadays. For example calling...

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Bill Mckay ends up winning the primary and then realizes he can’t back out of the race now. He starts broadening his liberal message to sound more palatable to moderate and conservative voters. His campaign is reduced to using broad clichés and catchy slogans in place of real messages.
The view of politics presented in the film is that image is rewarded substance in many modern elections. How a candidate looks, present themselves and “hypes” people up is usually...

...Case – Maria Sharapova: Marketing a Champion
Executive Summary
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